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The city, county and VIA now will draft an interlocal agreement to implement the plan. Bexar County has dedicated $55 million for the starter line, VIA will pay $70 million and the city will pursue creation of a special assessment district in the streetcar corridor, requiring property owners to pay into a pool of money to fund the service.

If the district isn't created, the city deal is void.

Over five years, the city will contribute $40 million to the plan, which includes money for two downtown transit centers and two park and ride facilities.

The assessment district, if approved by more than half of the property owners in the proposed area, will generate an estimated $15 million for the project.

Thursday's vote came after several residents spoke out against the plan, many of whom referred to the 2000 defeat by voters of a light-rail initiative.

They questioned the purpose of streetcars, the high construction cost and ridership losses in some cities with light rail.

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Opponents asked the council to table the streetcar question and put it to a public vote.

“Mayor Castro, do not railroad us,” cried Bob Martin, president of the Homeowner Taxpayer Association and one of several streetcar opponents who publicly stepped up the campaign to stop the vote this week.

But Thursday's meeting reflected how much city officials have embraced the mayor's vision, outlined in his SA 2020 initiative, that alternative forms of public transportation can significantly alter San Antonio's future.

“I'm of the opinion that the system that we have right now really is unsustainable,” District 2 Councilwoman Ivy Taylor said. “At a certain point, we just have to take a step back and say that, even though something may be what I'm most comfortable with, it may not be what's in the best interest of the community.”

District 8 Councilman Reed Williams, a longtime streetcar skeptic but vigorous supporter of a downtown bus circulator, admitted his queasiness about rail. Williams, along with Castro, developed the north-east streetcar car route as an alternative to VIA's proposal to first build an east-west streetcar line.

But, Williams said, the special assessment district and the redrawn route ensures the city will pursue the best possible streetcar option.

“I will support it because I want to give it a chance,” Williams said. “I don't support it because I'm a firm believer in it. But I also know I'm not always right.”

The city's plan includes a bus circulator that runs east and west, though VIA has said it eventually wants to extend the East Side and southern legs of the streetcar system.

Soules questioned why VIA would spend money on a bus circulator and still plan to build a west-south streetcar line. Parker said VIA always has planned a circulator to run in conjunction with its bus rapid transit service called VIA Primo, slated to begin late next year.

City officials also have agreed to negotiate the exact alignment of the streetcar line, such as whether it should make a loop near the Pearl Brewery as the city has suggested.

The streetcars will operate on tracks embedded in existing lanes of traffic and could operate partly without overhead wires. Construction could begin within two years, and service could start by 2015 or 2016, Parker said.

But the work isn't over yet.

VIA Board Chairman Henry Muñoz III, Parker, the mayor and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who rallied fiercely for streetcar, will meet Wednesday with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in Washington to discuss VIA's application for a TIGER III grant for the multimodal center.

Muñoz said he expects the conversation ultimately will turn to future streetcar projects.